Ignoring O-Line = Healthy Carl Nicks?
May 9th, 2014
Raise your beer if you thought the Bucs would walk away from the first two days of the NFL Draft with a shiny new running back and no new offensive lineman?
(Yeah the Bucs could still trade back up into the third round, but time is ticking away quickly.)
Joe can only speculate one thing: Lovie Smith and Jason Licht feel great about the prospects for former All-Pro guard Carl Nicks returning to the field.
Nicks, following toe/foot surgery and MRSA-related foot surgery, is rehabilitating at One Buc Palace and told everyone who would listen last month that he believed he could return at 99.9 percent for the 2014 season. But, per Nicks, Lovie Smith told him that 80 percent of his old self would be pretty darn good.
Nicks didn’t practice during the three-day April minicamp, but he was an active participant taking “mental reps” on the field and serving as an exuberant water boy.
Now Joe’s not counting on Nicks, but it sure seems like the Bucs are.
The Bucs’ offensive line is thin. Jamon Meredith was bad last year, and he’s the Bucs’ best right guard on the roster. There’s no depth, and the expensive new left tackle has never started more than seven games in a season.
Joe surely hopes the Bucs know Nicks is healthy enough to count on. That would be a true game-changer for the offense.
Yeah, the Bucs are likely to snag an O-lineman on Day 3, but that would be another longshot — finding an immediate impact starter that late.
Puzzling times at One Buc Palace. The Bucs don’t exactly have quarterbacks you want running for their lives.
May 9th, 2014 at 10:25 pm
It’s obvious that the #1 priority in this draft was increasing points production. They must’ve looked at the complete ineptitude of last year’s offense and decided they needed to place a premium on guys who could put yards and points on the board. Tedford’s offense needs play makers and now they have 3 shiny new ones.
May 9th, 2014 at 10:28 pm
This RB is a good pass catcher so maybe they will use him in the slot as well as the backfield. Indeed it appears they believe Nicks will be healthy and able to play at a reasonably high level but the RG position hardly inspires any confidence. That leaves the 5,6 and 7 picks to find a guard plus any undrafted guys they bring in after the draft. I’m sure they’ll get it taken care of.
May 9th, 2014 at 10:32 pm
It’s clearly BPA when you look at these three picks.
People will talk about how BPA is how dynasties are built. But when a team actually tries it, fans and analysts freak out. Ya gotta laugh.
May 9th, 2014 at 10:33 pm
Exactly
May 9th, 2014 at 10:33 pm
All indications say he’ll be back. still, I hope they have Davin’s number on speed dial for the RG position.
May 9th, 2014 at 10:34 pm
Kind of the opposite of what I thought. That means they are probably having an awesome draft.
Nobody can say Lovie is ignoring offense!
May 9th, 2014 at 10:35 pm
i think Davins on his way back!
May 9th, 2014 at 10:36 pm
Great point warthog.
May 9th, 2014 at 10:39 pm
Great draft so far.
Josh Huff was just drafted by Philly-Damn U Chip..lol
May 9th, 2014 at 10:45 pm
“Yeah, the Bucs are likely to snag an O-lineman on Day 3, but that would be another longshot — finding an immediate impact starter that late.”
Joe, thats kind of an ironic statement. Not only was the topic of this post, Nicks, drafted in the 5th round by the saints in 2008, but he also started in the same year as well, and is consider a top tier lineman at that. Now, I agree with you that this guard position is something to be concerned about, however even in this late stage of the draft, all hope is not lost.
May 9th, 2014 at 10:50 pm
Warthog
That would make sense except Sims wasn’t even the best player available at his own position when that pick was made so thinking that pick was solely about BPA is just silly
May 9th, 2014 at 10:50 pm
Don’t we have some OL on our practice squad…Jce Daniels…others? Maybe they were evaluated as ready for back-up duty now.
May 9th, 2014 at 10:52 pm
I’m not seeing the “Licht” thusfar.
May 9th, 2014 at 11:20 pm
Teams can really help their O-line by spreading defenses out. With ASF, Evans, and Sims, I can see an empty backfield and the ball coming out lightning fast.
May 9th, 2014 at 11:47 pm
I think what it means is L&L do not think Glennon was the reason for such a bad offense last season.
Adding all skill players in the first three rounds speaks volumes.
May 9th, 2014 at 11:55 pm
Thin draft for interior linemen. which means, there is not much difference in quality through out the draft. So why waste a pick early when you may have as good a choice in free agency?
Will Murray still be in play in the 5th round, if not do you take a 6th round shot on Logan Thomas. Murray still may be the best choice as you IR him for the entire next year and he does not count against your 53 man roster.
Logan Thomas may not be drafted and that would make an excellent project player.
May 10th, 2014 at 12:28 am
Hopefully our practice squad O-Lineman are better than we thought.
May 10th, 2014 at 2:30 am
It’s time to recognize that L&L is running the draft the way they choose without fear of the mike and pin club. They are proving it with every draft choice.
May 10th, 2014 at 6:06 am
Not sure if anyone noticed, but 2 guards went in the second round before our pick. You can pretty much guarantee that is why we didn’t draft a guard – because there just wasn’t one available worth the pick. I’d much rather get a good player at any position than grab a specific position of a guy that can’t play. Besides, did everyone forget that we literally were down to our last RB by about week 8 last year? Yes we are probably going to go into the season without much depth on our OL, but you can’t build depth at every single position in one season. Sometimes you just have to cross your fingers and hope for the best. I know one thing: we have plenty of weapons to put points on the board. Life is usually a bit easier for an OL if you can keep a defense off balance. We have big time receivers, TE’s, and RB’s. And oh yeah, one of the best defensive coaches in football.
May 10th, 2014 at 7:53 am
@Hawaiian to piggy back off of your comment. Patience. Still one more day left in the draft. People already forgot that the man in the picture above (Carl Nicks) was a 5th round pick. Relax people. In Lovie I trust
May 10th, 2014 at 7:57 am
@Bucs fan in NC
Says you. On THEIR BOARD, you know the only board that matters to the bucs, he is the best player.
May 10th, 2014 at 8:39 am
Cobraboy, that’s exactly it because a lot of people want to go out and blame glennon for the bad offense and forget of who we didn’t have starting because of injuries so I agree
May 10th, 2014 at 8:40 am
Dont forget all available player that will be out there due to the rookie signings… it doesn’t stop when the draft ends…
May 10th, 2014 at 10:25 am
Second-team Bucs offensive line:
LT First-year free agent & Practice squad member
LG Second-year free agent & practice squad member
C First-year free agent & practice squad member (a college tackle)
RG First-year free agent, 10 games on roster, zero games played
RT Seventh-year NFL veteran, benched in Cleveland after a bust in Baltimore